Ok, so my D50 got big piece of dust on it over Thanksgiving. It can be easily seen on the sensor. And it was driving me crazy. So in a moment of sleep deprived idiocy (at 2am), I tried blowing into the camera. It was a foot directly above my head, but a tiny bit of spit managed to defy gravity and find it's way up to the sensor. The worst part is that I know better than this (and the speck is still there :mad2: ). In any case, any of the Salt Lake people know of a good place for a quick (and preferably cheap) sensor cleaning? I'm supposed to be doing a paying shoot on Friday. So time in shop is more important than price right now. Thanks.

Been there, done that:blush2: but thanks to this site, I learned how to do it myself and have been doing it ever since....
http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/
If your not comfortable in doing it, then you should find a local Nikon dealer, as in a real camera store...

You can purchase cleaning kits at a camera store. It's not hard to clean but DO NOT use can air. Too much air pressure and I got a piece of something between the ground glass and the prism when I got too aggressive with the caned air, a big black spot in the view finder. Nikon cleaned the camera when it went in for service at Nikon.

There is an IR filter in front of the sensor so a cotton swab with window cleaner on it (damp not wet) can be used to clean the glass, and use the dry end to help dry the IR filter. Note the IR filter is made from glass and you need to treat it as a lens.

Ya, I had checked out that website. I would be confident doing it after I'd seen someone else do it, but this is my first attempt at cleaning DSLR.

But this all my be a bit of a moot point now. I just bought a D300!! AH! Of course my one impulse buy for the year has to be a bloody D300, haha. I was planning to get it in Jan. or Feb., but I was able to double my income this month, and B&H just got them in stock. So I think the D50 will be sold soon. I'll still get it cleaned, but wow, I'm excited. It should be here in time for me to shoot a concert Friday. So I'll get some low light examples up here for you guys.

GAH!! I still can't believe I did that! haha.

Lucky you, but how the heck does a person double their income in one month? What's your secret? If it includes work, I'm not interested. :p

It involves having a low income to begin with! Easy to double small numbers, haha. The vast majority of the shooting I did last month was paid. It put me about a month ahead on saving for the camera (saving has been going on for many months now). And it was only that month's income. It will be a bump in the big picture probably:(

Just a quick update in case any would like. I picked up some much needed cleaning supplies at Pictureline. I got a Giottos blower, and that got rid of the speck of dust that started this whole thing within the first puff. Then I proceeded with the sensor swabs, and proceeded, and proceeded... I ended up blowing an entire box of the damn things, and it's still there! It's much improved to the point of being just a bad speck, but easily correctable in PS. So in any case, I'm going to take it to professionals. I was told Forster's is a good place in SLC. So I'll probably drop it off next week.

The lesson from this story; just cough of the $10 for a good blower, and you won't have to deal with this crap, haha.

Cool
How is the D300?

Still don't have it in hand. According to UPS it's sitting here in Salt Lake. So I should have it tomorrow morning sometime.

And I've been contemplating the idea of shooting a concert less than 24 hours after a receive a new camera. This could get interesting, haha. I think I'll still bring the D50 just in case the D300 decides to better me in a battle of the minds.

Good plan, to be sure, but I think if you do a lot of reading on the autofocus system and menu options, and check out the Nikon Digitutor site (see the sticky at the top of the Nikon forum) you'll be all set. The D300 is the best all-around DSLR I've used, especially at this price point, and it won't disappoint.

If you have any questions feel free to ask them, I'll do my best to respond quickly!

Ok, so I've been playing with the D300 for a few hours now. All I can say is wow. I'll have a new shot for the self portrait thread here in a bit I think.

Very good lead to www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com .If not for your bad experience, I may have never discovered that site.

That is an awesome website. Their techniques will deal with anything except my super spit, haha. Otherwise, the sensor was as clean as when it came out of the factory. I'm glad that you can learn from my mistake.